Original VHS tape cassette containing a total of 11 takes of Prince during a film shoot to create the holographic image used on the front cover of his 13th album, Diamonds and Pearls, the first with his backing band, The New Power Generation, which was released on October 1, 1991, by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. Both the VHS and its accompanying original clamshell box feature matching affixed labels, which read: “Prince Hologram Shoot, Crown Holo-Grafx ‘91.” The tape bears another label annotated “D” and marked “25LA204452,” and the front of the box bears a holographic “Made in USA” label. Included with the VHS tape is an unused 3.25 x 2.75 prototype hologram sticker of the final cover (with Prince posing with dancers Lori Werner and Robia LaMorte, who were known as Diamond and Pearl) and a digital DVD copy of the VHS tape. In overall fine condition.
Accompanied by a signed letter of authenticity from Jeff Gold, the owner of Recordmecca and a former executive vice president/general manager of Warner Bros. Records, who worked closely with Prince during the 1990s and art directed numerous album covers for him, including Diamonds & Pearls, Love Symbol, and The Hits/The B-Sides. The letter reads: “This letter is to authenticate a VHS video tape of the Prince hologram shoot for his Diamonds and Pearls album cover, along with a digital transfer to the same, and a prototype hologram. I art-directed a number of Prince's album covers, including Diamonds and Pearls, which featured a hologram on the cover. In order to produce the hologram, we had to do a film shoot of Prince and his dancers, moving in the specific way he envisioned. They repeated this motion numerous times, in multiple takes. After the film was processed, the hologram company gave me two VHS videos of the different takes, one for myself and one for Prince, so he could choose which take he wanted to use.
This VHS tape is my copy, along with a DVD transfer and one of the prototype holograms sent to me for my approval. I don't recall which take we chose, but after all these years it's remarkable to see the shoot in full color – the hologram had barely any color – and to see how disciplined Prince and his dancers were, repeating the same moves with little variation, in take after take. As far as I can determine, this is the only surviving copy of this video, which is unknown to even the most fervent Prince collectors.”
